Jakarta: Indonesia is not to take part in any boycott of the Olympic Games in Beijing but asks the Chinese government to solve its problem properly so that it will not endanger the competitions, the head of the country's private sports organizations said.

"Indonesia will not boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing but we ask the Chinese government to settle its problem properly so it will not jeopardize the games," Rita Subowo, chairwoman of the Indonesian National Sports Committee and Indonesian Olympic Committee (KON-KOI), said here on Friday.

She also referred to a declaration made by 205 member countries of the Association of National Olympic Committees fully supporting the holding of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"Political and sports matters should be kept apart. If there is a boycott, it could happen that no country will later be prepared to host the Olympiad," she said.

"We should also remember that the athletes who are to take part in the Olympic Games have been preparing themselves for a long time, not just for one or two years," Subowo said.

"China also had to go through a long bidding process to host the games," she added. Demonstrations against the holding of the games in Beijing have taken place in a number of cities in the world through which the Olympic flame was carried in relay after being lit in Olympia, Greece, last March 14.

Because of the possibility of demonstrations in Jakarta when the Olympic flame arrives in the Indonesian capital on April 22,national sports authorities have decided to shorten the flame's parading route in Jakarta.

Initially, the flame was to be carried from the Monas (National Monument) area in central Jakarta to the Gelora Bung Karno (Bung Karno Sports Arena) in south Jakarta.
Source : PTI